Combined air cleaner, oil filler, and crank-case breather



May 14, 1929. c. R. SHORT COMBINED AIR CLEANER, OIL FILLER, AND GRANK'CASE BREATHER Filed April l. 1926 ma@ 5w Patented May 14, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

- CHARLES E. SHORT, OF DAYTON', OHIO, .ASSIGN'OB' TO GENERAL MOTORSRESEARCH CORPORATION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A. CORPORATION F DELAWARE.

AIB CLEANER, OIL FILI-ER, AND CRANE-CASE BREATBIER.

Application led April 16, 1928.. lSerial Ho. 102,526.

it invention combines an air cleaner, an oi1 ller, and a crank casebreather.

It is an object of the invention to associate an air cleaner with an airheater in such a way that cold air or warm air may be admitted to theair cleaner at the will of the o erator.

he a ipurther object the invention aims to ad'ord a ready means ofyescape for the gases lo in the erank case tp the carbureter.

"llhe invention also has for an object to provide an oil fillerdelivering oil through v the breather tube to the crank case, althoughthe breather tube also serves as a conduit for l5 cranlr case gasespassing to the intake of the motor.

.d turther object is to combine these severall instrumentalities in asimple structure which shall be etcient in serving its purpose and alsoeconomical in manufacture.

'1he invention will be understood from the oliowing specification andthe accompanying drawing.

1n the drawings,-Fig..1 is a side view of an,l explosive motor providedwith the ae-` cessories comprising the invention; y

Fig.` 2 is an end view of the motor;

Fig. 3 is a side view, parts broken away and'parts in section; v k

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing, numeral 1 represents, in a conventional way, agas engine its crank case beingrepresented by numera yj 2. The intakemanifold is shown at 3, the

exhaust manifold at 4, and 5 is the carbureter, the latter communicatingwith the intalte manifold. A pipe 6 connects the car bnreter with an aircleaner designated as a wholle by numeral 7.'

The air cleaner in its intermediate portion is of generally circularshape. It has a head 8 in the form o f a casting having a reduced endfor a connection with pipe 6 as provided with an internal tubularextension within the outer wall of the cleaner las shown at 9. At thelower part of the cleaner a circular opening as at 10 is provided forthe entrance of air into the cleaner, and extending across and beyondthis opening. is a curved plate 11:J This structure c'auses the airenterin the cleaner to. travel tangentially and to germ a whirl movingalong the circular wall of the air cleaner.

y clearly shown in Fig. 3. The head 8 is also The particles of dustcoming in with the air are separated from the air and collected 1n thedust trap 12 at the end of the cleaner .opposite the head 8. The airthus `freed from dust leaves the cleaner through the opening 9 in head8, and passes to the earbureter by way of the pipe 6.

In supplying airl to the air cleaner, an arrangement is made whereby theair may be taken from the atmosphere or the air may be iirst warmed bybeing taken from position in proximity to the exhaust manifold. To thatend a pipe, stove or heater 13 is shown connected to the exhaust manii'fold by fastening means 14e.

This pipe is extended to a point Just back of the air cleaner as perhapsbest shown in Fig. 3,

where the air cleaner is broken away to show V the end of the heaterpipe behind it. Near its open end, adjacent the cleaner, it is providedJvith an opening 14 in its lower wall communicating with an elbow at theinlet of the air cleaner. Within the said end of pipe 13 and above theopening 14 is a valve member 15 carried on a pivot 16, there beinganoperating arm 16 for said valve at the end of the pivot 16. As seen inFig. 3, the valve in one position permitscold air from the adjacent openend of pipe 13 to enter the air cleaner. When the valve is turned to itsopposite or dotted line position, as shown in Fig. 3, the cold airopening is closed and the cleaner receives warm air from. the stove orpipe 13, i. e., from the part of pipe 13 situated in the vicinity of theexhaust manifold. It is possible to clean either the cold air or warmair with this arrangement of-cleaner and heater.

A breather pipe 17 extends upwardly from the crank case. It is Wellknown that in the heated condition of a gas engine much volatile gas iswastedthrough this breather pipe. By the structure now to be describedthis waste is prevented. The head 8 of the air cleaner in addition tobeing axially bored for engagement with pipe 6 is also transverselybored to snugl receive the end of the breather pipe 17. ghe upper end ofthis last named ,opening receives an oil -iiller pipe 18 which isreduced in diameter as shown at 19 within'the casting 8 andis extendedtoenter the upper end of the breather pipe 17. This `second opening inthe casting 8, into the ends of which the breather and filler pipe areadmitted, intersects the axial opening in part 8 so that an air passageis afforded into pipe 6 from the breather pipe 17 by way of the annularspace around the reduced end of the oil filler Vpipe 18.

"With the structure as above described, it

-will be seen that a continuous passage is made use of from the heaterto the carbureter. In the several portions of this passage air isheated, cleaned from sediment and mixed with crank ease gases. 'Also atthat portion of the passage where the crank case gases are admitted,provision is made for the introduction of oil to the crank case by wayof the breather pipe, without danger of oil being admitted to thepassage from the breather to the carbureter air intake.

The structure will be seen to be very simple, requiring little more thana few pipe elements and a special air cleaner cover, which latter isprovided with two intersecting passageways. The construction, simple asit is, nevertheless performs its several functions very eiiiciently.

What I claim is:

1. In an explosive motor, the combination of an intake conduit, an aircleaner associated therewith, a breather pipe affording .communicationbetween the motor casing and the intake conduit, an oil filler tube inaxial alignment with the breather conduit, the filler tube being ofsmaller diameter than the breather pipe and extending into the breatherpipe beyond its point of communication with the intake conduit.

2. An air cleaner for an explosive motor including a head for one end ofthe cleaner,

the head having an axial passage for attachment to an air inlet for themotor, a second passage in the head at an angle to the irstpassage, saidpassages intersecting each other, a breather connecting the motor casingto the second passage-way.

8. In an vair cleaner, breather and oil filler combination, an aircleaner, a head for one end of the cleaner, the head having an axialpassage alfording an outlet communication from the air cleaner to themotor intake, the head also having a transverse passage intersecting theaxial passage, a crank case breather connected to one end of thetransverse passage, and an oil filler pipe connected to the other end ofthe transverse passage.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein the oil filler pipe isof smaller diameter than the breather pipe, and extends into thebreather pipe, thereby permitting the introduction of oil from the oilliller -opipe through the breather pipe and into the crank case, andalso the passage of crank ease gases from the crank case, throughthebreather, around the extended end of the oil filler pipe and intothemotor intake P1Pe 5. In combination, a heater, an air cleaner,

means admitting cold air or air from the heater to the air cleaner, atube connecting the outlet of the cleaner with a gas engine, a breatherconnecting the crank case with the cleaner outlet, and an oil fillerpositioned so as to pass oil into the crank case by way of the breatherwithout entering the passage affording communication between thebreather and the motor intake.

6. In a gas engine, a carburetor, a continuous air conduit leading intothe carburetor comprising a portion for heating the air, a portion forcleaning the air, a portion wherein volatile gases from the crankcaseare mixed with the air, and means associated with the portion whereinthe volatile gases are admitted to the conduit to provide for theintroduction of oil to the crankcase.

7 In an internal combustion engine having 4a conduit for the exhaustgases, an openended air heater associated with and extendinglongitudinally of and at one end beyond the exhaust conduit, an aircleaner, means for conducting air from adjacent the extended end of theconduit to the air intake of the air cleaner, a valve in the air heaterwhereby either end of the conduit may be opened to said means.

8. In an internal combustion engine having an exhaust manifold, means toconducteither hot or cold air to the carburetor including a conduitextending longitudinally of and secured to the manifold and extending atone end beyond the manifold, means for conducting air from adjacent thecxtended end of the conduit and a valve in the conduit whereby eitherend of the conduit may be opened to said means.

9. In an inter'nal combustion engine having an exhaust manifold, meansto conduct either hot or cold air to the carburetor including a conduitextending longitudinally of and secured to the manifold and extending atone end be 7ond`the manifold, means for conducting a1r from adjacent theextended end of the conduit and a valve in the conduit whereby the airleaving the conduit can be taken from either end of the conduit or fromboth ends in any desired proportion.

10. In combination, an `intake conduit and a breather pipe, saidbreather pipe having CHARLES R. SHORT. l

